Mumbai Indians (MI) have made a rousing start to their 2023 Women’s Premier League (WPL) campaign by winning their first two games in the competition. It is not just the fact that they have gathered two points already that has impressed, but the manner of their wins that has stood out.
MI won their opening game in the tournament by defeating Gujarat Giants by a whopping margin of 143 runs, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur playing a stunning knock. MI continued their winning run in the blockbuster clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) with a stunning nine-wicket victory with more than five overs to spare.
Hayley Matthews starred for MI in their epic win as she took a three-wicket haul and then played an unbeaten knock of 77 in jus 38 balls to take the Women in Blue over the line with ease. In the first game against the Giants’, Matthews played a vital knock of 47. The West Indies skipper was purchased by the Mumbai-based franchise at her base price of Rs. 40 lakh in the auction.
Following her stunning start to the season that saw her wear the orange cap, Matthews’ old tweets have resurfaced online which showed her always being a MI fan. A post from 2013 showing the Windies all-rounder expressing her support for MI went viral as Matthews completed the perfect ’10 year challenge’ in 2013.
“From when I was pretty young, I followed and supported my dad’s favourite sports teams. He was an MI fan from the very first season and a huge Sachin Tendulkar fan. When I was bought in the auction, somebody brought back all my tweets from 2013 around ‘Come on MI’ or something like that. It was pretty funny to see that,” Matthews reflected on her support for MI after the match-winning performance against RCB.
